


A Heightened Sense

by silverskyfullofstars



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Gen, New York City, Nighttime, Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, five senses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-26 16:11:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13239336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverskyfullofstars/pseuds/silverskyfullofstars
Summary: Sometimes, he wishes life could pause for a moment.





	A Heightened Sense

Lately, Peter’s favorite place has been the roof. Sometimes during the day, but usually at night - whenever he has time to take a break from the rest of the world. Silently, he climbs up the side of his building, the nearby trees sometimes ruffling his hair with outstretched twigs. He sits on the edge, unafraid of falling, and stops for a moment to listen. To feel. Eyes closed, he lets the noise of his mind quiet and give way to the ambient noise of the city around him. 

First, he begins to hear. When one sense isn’t being used, the others will sharpen, and now that he’s got powers, his hearing is even better. He can hear the noise of cars, of people, of birds, of his own heartbeat giving the city a pounding beat to pulse to. It almost speaks when he’s like this, in the unique language only a city home to thousands of people can. It’s calming - the sound of home.

Then comes touch. The air is often cool, and it raises goosebumps on his skin. He can feel the texture of the rough concrete under his hands, each individual mountain and valley making themselves known. Sometimes, in the early morning or after a rainstorm, the roof is damp, and his fingertips sense even the slightest trace of water.

Smell and taste are next, usually together. With the smell of the cars and the asphalt and the stone comes the slight tang of salt in the air from the ocean. With the smell of grass and earth and trees comes the almost imperceptible taste of…  _ green _ . You know how that happens, when an unidentifiable smell comes through as a color? Though not always large, the green patches in the city have a sharp, fresh taste on his tongue, mixing with the slightly smoky quality that only city air has. Around dinnertime, he can tell when the restaurants open up, the smells and tastes of his city’s food wafting through the air to any and all who may be close by. It’s comforting - always the same places, always the same foods. A constant.

At the end, before he leaves, he’ll open his eyes. Take in the lights of the city, and the stars that his enhanced vision can pick out even through the light pollution. See the people walking down below, and the faint clouds high above. Sometimes, at the end, sight is good. To see the city he can hear and feel and smell and taste, knowing his home in every way he possibly can. It’s grounding.

Peter needs these quiet moments the way he needs air. Sometimes life is too fast, too hectic, and it begins to get too much. Silence is good - the absence of speech, punctuated with the sound of a quiet breath and the chill of an evening breeze. It’s a chance to take a break, to forget any and all obligations or false identities and just exist in a sphere of calm. He’ll always be ready to go back eventually - life doesn’t stop to take a break, even if he wishes it would. He loves his life, and he wouldn’t leave it for anything. But it’s good, the silence. Content, he crawls back down the wall, through the window, and into the warm glow of life, the passage of time restored.


End file.
